The task of making such a list is virtually impossible. I have a personal library of about 6000 books and can't bear the thought of throwing any of them out. But here are fifteen -- and a few more. In no particular order. They are all books that I can take off the shelf when my brain feels stale, open almost anywhere, and feel fresh again, thanks to the beautiful power of words.
Along with: anything at all by Nora Ephron; any novel by Elmore Leonard, Alan Furst, Carl Hiassen, Benjamin Black, Georges Simenon, or William Kennedy; any volume of poetry by Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon, Paul Muldoon, Pablo Neruda, W.H. Auden, Eavan Boland; any work by Jimmy Breslin, George Orwell, W.C. Heinz, A. J. Liebling, Clive James, Octavio Paz, V.S. Pritchett, Murray Kempton, Luigi Barzini, Gay Talese or Tom Wolfe. Anything by... well, you see what I mean.